`Santa Claus' Robber Arraigned In 1989 Slaying

BRISTOL — A former banker and convicted bank robber was arraigned Thursday on murder charges in connection with the 1989 strangling of his business partner and accomplice.

Former Southington resident Jeffrey R. Stenner, 49, who appeared in Bristol Superior Court, has been charged with killing 26-year-old Robert W. Schmidt, his friend, associate and partner in two armored car robberies in the late 1980s that netted $1.8 million.

Schmidt's body was found dumped in the parking lot of Bethel Church in Southington Dec. 20, 1989 -- exactly one year after police said Schmidt drove the getaway car in the 1988 ``Santa Claus'' armored car robbery in West Hartford. Stenner, dressed in a Santa suit, held a gun to guards and demanded money in the $700,000 heist, he later admitted.

In court Thursday, a thinly built Stenner, wearing glasses and sporting a shaved head, scanned the courtroom crowd as the proceedings drew to a close. Before guards escorted the shackled defendant out, Stenner turned to smile at his sister, who had driven to Connecticut last night from her home in Vermont.

Stenner, who was about to be released from an Arizona federal prison where he was serving time for violating probation, was arrested on a fugitive-from-justice warrant on Aug. 9 and extradited to Connecticut this week. Scott CanCel, 36, a personal trainer from New Britain, and Gilberto Delgado, 30, of Hartford, were also arrested and charged with murder last week in connection with Schmidt's death.

Stenner's lawyer, Brian J. Woolf, waived argument to reduce his client's bond. Stenner will continue to be held in lieu of $3 million bail until his case is transferred to New Britain Superior Court where he will be arraigned again Aug. 29.

The former banker and restaurateur has spent most of the past decade in federal prison, serving about seven years for the 1988 armored car robbery.

Authorities said Stenner first met Schmidt in the mid-1980s, after Stenner abandoned a banking career and, on impulse, bought Zindie's, a Canton bar. Schmidt was soon working as bartender, bouncer and doorman for Stenner. Later, authorities said they believed Stenner persuaded Schimdt to obtain an armored car security job and become his robbery accomplice in 1987.

Schmidt and Stenner were also partners in a lawn care business in New Britain for a few months. Although Schmidt had started S&S Yard Care in the spring of 1989, he was irresponsible and unable to run the business, and Stenner became involved as a silent partner, authorities said.

After his release from prison in December 1998, Stenner lived in Vermont under house-supervised probation before traveling to France from March 2000 to January this year, his lawyer said after the court session.

Although Stenner doesn't deny knowing Schmidt, he says he wasn't part of the crime, Woolf said.